Rare Earth Metals

Rare earth metals are actually not as rare as their name might imply. Critical to high-performance optics and lasers and key to the most powerful magnets and superconductors in the world, rare earths are simply more difficult to mine than most metals and generally don't accumulate into rich ores.

This rarity, combined with the demand for the metals in high-tech applications, brings about economic and political complications that make some of the most interesting metals even more exciting.

Rare Earths in the Marketplace

In August of 2010, lingering fears over Chinese dominance of crucial rare earth supplies were brought to focus when China restricted export quotas of the metals with no official explanation, immediately sparking debate over decentralization of world rare earth production.

Great quantities of rare earth ores are known in California, but current mining is not significant enough to strategically control any portion of the global rare earths market.Rare earths are traded on the NYSE in the form of ETFs that represent a basket of supplier and mining stocks, as opposed to trading in the metals themselves. This is due to their rarity and price, as well as their almost strictly industrial consumption. Rare earth metals are not considered a good physical investment like precious metals, which hold low-tech intrinsic value.

Rare Earth Metals and Their Applications

In order of increasing atomic mass, the rare earth metals and some of their common applications are given below.